New Deck Building Proposal Is Offered

LIGHTHOUSE POINT — Waterfront residents would be allowed to build decks that extend over their sea walls to meet a pier or dock, under a compromise Mayor Albert E. Fletcher Jr. proposed last week.

Fletcher said he reached the compromise after discussions with resident Bob Roepnack, who led opposition to an ordinance passed last year that restricted dock and patio construction.

Roepnack could not be reached for comment.

The commission promised to review the restrictions, Fletcher said, after they touched off the opposition, including a petition drive, among residents who wanted to build decks adjoining their docks.

The building restrictions, passed in November, prohibited building new docks and piers higher than sea walls, and extending new terraces and patios past the landward side of sea walls. Under the ordinance, patios and terraces that reach to the sea wall cannot be higher than the sea wall where they meet.

Opponents said that because land was at a premium in the city, waterfront residents should be allowed to take advantage of the decks to expand their space.

At the time the commission approved the restrictions, Commissioner J.E. ``Ted`` McLaughlin said they were designed to prevent a ``canyon effect,`` in which a proliferation of wooden structures extending into the canals would block the view from both the land and water.

Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously supported a motion to have City Attorney Richard Roth write an ordinance containing the provisions of Fletcher`s proposal.

The middle ground in the conflict, Fletcher said in making the proposal, would be to allow residents to build terraces or patios that extend to their piers or docks but to prohibit construction of them within 25 feet of a neighboring property line.